Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Spoilers - Issue # 36

Another good issue with another big cliffhanger

Spoilers to follow
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President Wazzo is in bad shape so Tinya sends her off with Jo to find her some medical assistance, but unfortunately there are no available surgeons as those skills have all but disappeared due to 31st technology. Jo and the President have a nice moment.

Brainy is not actually going crazy as some speculated, but he can't bring his thought processes down to a managable level until Umbra gives him a little tough love. He and Tinya start directing the relief efforts with help from the other Legionnaires and Trudy Trusoe. Unfortunately Chameleon's got a broken arm, but Vi is soon up and around. After the initial panic, the citizenry begins to pull together.

On Legion World, Chuck formulates a rescue plan involving the cadets, including a preboot Academy student in a nice cameo. Dr. Gym'll goes along for the ride, because he has old-school surgical skills.

Karate Kid is still aboard the prison, facing down the prison population with just a few correctional officers and mindful that they're all facing a big crash. Help arrives from the Persuader, who convinces the cons to help guide down the prison as best they can with the aid of appropriately powered jailbirds.

Dreamer is still held by the Devil and is forced into further participation in the plan in a particularly nasty way. Arrow is still in his sniper's nest doing further bad things. The issue ends on another cliffhanger with a Legionnaire down.

The art in this issue is again very solidly rendered and the colors by Snocone and our pal Mechana are again effectively rendered. As an aside to Ronda, I'm curious that the prisoners are dressed in orange and the guards in black which are the main colors in KK's uniform and he's the one who must try to broker a truce between them. I don't know if it was intentional or not but I thought it was cool.

The dialogue in this issue should make everyone a little happier, there's nothing that stuck out at me like the KK dialogue in pt 1. The plot seems pretty tight so far, to the point that certain scenarios that could have been used to fight the Spike are raised and dismissed. I like that potential plot holes or what-if's are anticipated and dealt with.

Speculation: I don't know if anyone's thought of this before, but could it be that maybe the spike is going to hit the Time Institute and muck up the timestream somehow thus leading to the "reimagining" or whatever it's called? There's nothing in the first two parts to make it seem likely, but what the heck? It simply seems to me like a potential bridge to the Waid/Kitson run and we've been told that Gail worked with them to set it up.

This is a really interesting thought; I've been wondering if this no-tech plot would lead into that, but I was thinking more along the lines of the villains using 20th/21st century hero names: blue Devil, green Lantern, etc. If this is what happens - I wonder how the event of removing all that technology will, itself, affect things? And will these four "social saviours" be around in the aftermath? Time will tell, I guess.

I liked this issue. It's very solid for the second part of the story, which means that throughout the book there's lots of decent plot developments, and something really REALLY major happens at the end.

It's very believable that Umbra would take the immediate route to getting Querl back on track, and it's just as believable that he would concentrate on something like calculating pi to try to get his thoughts in order.

The Persuader gets some interesting characterisation, ever practical. I love the "I don't want you talking to that boy" line - understandable, but sooo fatherly when he doesn't want to be.

My two big questions for this issue are: is the effect spreading? And, why didn't Jo fly to a hospital outside of the area?

Lot's more to be said!

Jya.

Legion 36 ... Hm.

In all honesty, while a good issue in itself, this story isn't grabbing me the way I feel it should. Granted, Legion stories haven't grabbed me in some time. *sigh*

I think I can chalk this one up to my incessant mental meanderings over whether or not one even needs to be concerned with "current" Legion events, with the reimagining/not-a-reboot/whatever coming up in December ...

There are some excellent snipits of dialogue, though; I especially like Querl's "What do you know. Pi really is infinite."

And then of course there's the classic:

"I don't want you talking to that kid."

Ehehehehe.

It's a nice story; I only wish it had cme along much, much sooner. It almost feels like too little too late ...

(And, a thought: perhaps -- despite his belief to the contrary -- the implants in Querl's face are what are causing the trouble for him, somehow ...?)


Tai

Distinctly possible. Even if he's simply become dependent on them to "corral" his mind to the more immediate requirements (although really how well could they have been working? We've seen plenty of "absent-minded professor" moments) it might b for the better than he not. A mind that powerful not learning to enforce it's own internal discipline? That is truly frightening.

Oh, I can't believe I didn't interpret that line like that. I've nearly told my daughter that, and she's only 3. (Well, on Sunday she will be.)

Rejya ...

(My, I'm being relatively prolific the last day or so. I think my brain woke up, or somesuch ... *chuckles*)


Frightening, and yet to all apperances what seems to be implied in this storyline, in one manner or another.

This is one of those moments where my interest in an interesting plot development lie at war with my interest as a fan. Somehow, I simply cannot see Querl being willing to rely on technology for such a reason -- or to give up his pride long enough to bother. He would cope, or we would get to read a "mad Brainiac 5" story.

(Which I rather miss, in an odd way. Ah well.)

Still, there may be no reason to worry too much over the little details -- we'll just have to wait it out ...


Tai

My initial impression: I enjoyed it, and think there's a lot of nice things going on, though there's a few bits that I found kind of improbable on first read. I'll post more detailed comments later on, but for now:

Nightwind! Yay!

Lialla! Yay!

Gym'll being the right color! Yay! But, what happened to his other arm?

Well, hot diggity dog, this was fun! For a disaster story... the story moved along, and even more was added.

Looks like things aren't as rosy between Jo and Tinya as I had thought last issue.

I liked the way Brin looked to Jo for guidance - and used his wolf powers to sniff out a missing baby. That he would focus on such a detail in a mad crowd scene added to the sense that the legionnaires didn't really know what to do about the crowd at first.

Brainy, not mad, but decidedly manic - funny he should mention God (as he did in the Robotica arc) - I would never have figured him for a believer in any god. I guess that's Umbra speaking to him through the shadow - although at first I thought it was some yet-to-be-introduced character or force.

Tasmia looked great, Tinya looked great, got a bit bitchy with Jo & Trudy, but rose to the occasion.

The guy in the grey flannel suit struck me as strange! He's the only one in clearly 21st century clothes. Is he supposed to just represent a typical businessman of any era - or is he one of these past-is-better people teamed up with Devil?

Cadets! Hooray! And Chuck takes charge. Everyone is acting like the heroes they're supposed to be!

Enjoyed the pragmatic Persuader, who all the other convicts fear, and the rather entertaining Organ Thief (perhaps he could get a grammar transplant, but his talk is part of his charm).

Interesting that the civil war on Karahdia continues to be developed ... I had thought this was something of a joke thrown into the last issue, a tribute to some of the zanier Silver Age plots - but some legionnaires are still involved there, we're told.

Now if Devil had Nura choose (against her will) Brin as the next legionnaire to be captured, how did Devil know that Brin would indeed show up in response to her scream?

That would be among the improbable bits...

Unless, maybe, Dreamer's power was being used to predict he would come? I don't know.

Good thought.

I enjoyed the issue. And can't wait to see how this all plays out. Thanks Gail for giving us a great read to end the series with. I wish you'd decided to stay on.

I actually got choked up when the calvary arrived and Trudy got organized.

Also, I liked how Tinya and the others are rising to the challenges before them. They're starting to seem like heroes again, more so than they have for me in a long time.

I'm hooked into all the various plots. Which may be why this feels like a pre-boot story more than the post-boot stories we've come to expect.

Nightwind should have blue not black hair, shouldn't she? And my guess is that the Cadet program has expanded beyond the original 20 (21?) seen in #25.

Okay, coming back with a little more analytical read:

--The reference to Vi as one of the most powerful Legionnaires was interesting.

--I wasn't clear as to why Tinya was telling her mother to phase on the first page. She's already injured. Perhaps it could remove the bullet?

--I liked the Jo-Tinya exchange over her mom. Obviously, Jo is simply not thinking through the consequences fully, and has nothing in particular against Tinya's mom, but her accusing him of hesitating in helping her because it's her mom seemed a nice way of highlighting the tensions between them. I'm glad to see Jo being portrayed as a bit smarter than he seemed through most of DnA's run. I was also perplexed as to why he didn't fly her out of the spike-zone, but maybe he just doesn't realize that it's only effecting a limited area.

--I like the scenes of the Legionnaires slowly pulling together and trying to figure out what to do.

--The relationship between the Persuader and his daughter (Lialla! Like the name!) grows even more fascinating. So apparently he does care about her, even if he doesn't want to. The use of him as the "baddest badazz in th' Fatal Five", persuading the other prisoners into helping Karate Kid, was unexpected, but welcome.

--The Dreamer syringe scene really does read like she's picking the next target, rather than predicting it, but the latter makes a lot more sense of the final scene.

--If the "spike" is making power sources completely inert, then would any Legionnaires with energy based powers be ineffective in it? I like Chuck taking charge, however.

--I got a thrill out of seeing Nightwind, even though she looks significantly different than her preboot self.

--I liked the notion of Gym'll strapping on a glider and going down to help, though I'm still perplexed by his lack of a third arm. And I'm a little perplexed by the fact that he seems to be just about landing a couple of pages before the final, while he's clearly flying on the final page. And how would Arrow know he was a surgeon?

--I found it a little odd that Apparition wouldn't have noticed Vi getting up before her "Can I help?" line. She also seemed way too large on the splash page.

--The other thing that really perplexed me about the issue (besides the Dreamer/Timber Wolf thing) is why Arrow is still there and in position to take shots at people. Is no one trying to capture him? He just shot the President last issue. I would think that one of the major priorities of both the Legionnaires and the S.P.'s would be to try to secure the perimeter, and to take out the sniper. You can blame some of on the confusion, but I just found it a little unbelievable.

Anyway, I'm still enjoying the story, and looking forward to the next issue!

If Nura predicted that Timber Wolf was the next to be taken out, would she choose another Legionnaire?

I guess I'm assuming she'd see the last page 'result' along with which Legionnaire to pick; there's no basis for that, really.

We haven't seen *this* Nura try to 'cheat fate'... or been told what she thinks about the possibilities of attempting to do so.

Or is she so out of it that all she can do is basically react to stimuli?

Todd

I was assuming that she's pretty much under the control of Devil, and has very little will of her own.

Well I guess now we know why it was Umbra and not a more traditionally sympathetic Legionnaire dealing with Brainy's situation. Who else would have the nerve to double slap him silly? That scene reminded me of Cher and Nic Cage in Moonstruck - "Snap out of it"!!!!!

Maybe that's what Nura *wants* Devil to think.

Todd

Maybe, Todd.

I was curious why there was no blood when Timber Wolf is stabbed. It seems like there would be.

I wonder what Devil's actual powers are? Canary seemed pretty cowed (although, in that first issue, she didn't get up on the table as ordered), but that might be less a controlling people thing as a reaction to scary-crazy.

Yup, better than #35, now that we're getting to the meat of the story.


The good:

-- Umbra. My gal's back in true form. Smack that nasty Coluan, girl!
-- "Fat marshmallow nightmare"! Trudy sure has a way with words.
-- Winema may be a bitch, but she's a courageous one. True to character.
-- A more on-target portrayal of Val this time around.
-- The Organ Thief continues to entertain. Wonder if he after Val's reproductive organs.
-- Persuader the Baddest Badazz. Is he a too obvious choice as the point of intersection between Gail and Waid's arcs?
-- Cadets, yes! Gilders, yes! Cannon fodder, no, no, no! Don't recall much about the original Nightwind but she's certainly striking.
-- "I'm sending the weather the conditions with them". Chuck is THE MAN.
-- Mech vs. non-mech physicians. I think that's the way it will really go long before the 31st century.
-- Dr. Gym'll. I just KNEW he was a hero at heart. Great cameo, but I'm worried, not only for his life, but for his missing arm.
-- No complaint with Jurgen's art, but I miss Batista.


The questionable:

-- Um, Jo waxing philosophical in the midst of crisis? Jo using a six-syllable word!?! If a writer wants to elevate a character, as least keep his personality, words and actions authentic. File these items in the "Never Happened" drawer.
-- Brainy, Brainy, Brainy. The "personality inhibitor" smacks of retcon, but I'll ride this one out to see where it goes.
-- Cham unable to morph because of a broken bone? I don't recall that power limitation being mentioned in the last 40 years, but I'm no trivia expert either.
-- So the thresholds *do* work. You mean there's not ONE single non-energy-powered Legionnaire on the entire planet of Legion World? The war with the bug people covers many a plot hole.
-- The explanation why they can't deploy Livewire and other "power sources" sounds like a blatant plot device, but I'll give Gail the benefit of the doubt and see how it develops. Less explicable is why they can't deploy M'onel in such a dire emergency. The real reason, I suspect, is that Gail just doesn't want any other Legionnaires in the story.
-- Wouldn't the spike affect Jo's ultra **energy** powers? Apparently not, 'cause he's flying around on his own steam.
-- Doggy mans? Wanted: baby dialogue consultant.
-- As EDE pointed out, the fact that Arrow is in range of the rescue squad just as the threshold opens, and recognizes Gym'll as a surgeon, is more than a tad too convenient.
-- I know we're supposed to hate the bad guys, but Devil continues to grate on me in a most annoying way. Think I'll have Umbra slap her around a bit, or better yet, have Dreamer kick her butt back to Hades later.
-- The cover of the TT/Legion special squelches any doubt about Brin's fate, as if we didn't already guess. Now we know now why he isn't wearing a shirt.


Obviously, there were quite a few things that took me out of the story (DnA would be been torn apart by wild dogs for less) but the entertainment factor was still high. Hope we get a glimpse of the Karahdian civil war, and more than a glimpse of the rest of the Legion, before it all ends.

I forgot about the crossover cover, Tromium, thanks.

I loved this issue. I agree that Dreamer's power must have been working when she picked T-Wolf. Unless, of course, she didn't pick him. We've only got Devil's word for it.

I'm looking forward to next issue. I hope being wounded isn't going to keep Vi and Cham form doing anything, though.

I assume the idea was that they opened it above the spiked area and glided down.

I find the notion that whatever's going on would affect peoples powers to be iffy. Maybe Chuck's just wrong, though.

Me like furry doggy man!

Things get more intense this issue as mass hysteria threatens to erupt, but there is hope amidst the chaos, from some of the least likely places. From a reporter who discovers heroism for the first time, from ordinary citizens and from the recently formed Legion Cadets!

It's one of the conventions of this kind of story where when the world is turned upside down, those at the "bottom" are given a chance to rise to the top and Gail does a good job showing both situations. The Legion is certainly not absent from the picture either and Karate Kid and Apparition in particular have their chance to shine.

random thoughts:
-- I like how Timberwolf is handled here -- his attitude seems spot on. (and he doesn't say "Think fast" once!)
-- Ultra Boy seemed less so to me when he suggested not helping Winemena - he doesn't strike me as one of those "it's time to make the hard decision" kinda guy (especially since it didn't seem there was anything that bad going on with the crowd and most especially since she's the President). Relenting when pushed by Tinya seemed like him though
-- It was fun to see the cadets, but I was a tad disappointed that these weren't the ones we saw before (since all 21 were depicted before). Always nice to see a rebooted character though in Nightwind.
-- Big Props to the whole art team for all those big crowd scenes.
-- Is that one of Grey's relatives helping push Oasis One (it seems to have a feminine figure...)?
-- I had a nice pang of nostalgia seeing Wildfire discussing the cadets considering his relationship with the trainees preboot.
-- The Persuader's daughter subplot is intriguing -- I have no idea why it's here, but I'm interested to see where it goes.
-- Oh no! Dr Gym'll!
-- OH NO, BRINN!! (good thing next ish is only two weeks away!)

Definitely.

Nice catch on the wings. Maybe we'll see more next issue.

I worry. I worry that I am going to be spoiled by the narrative, dialogue, and plots that have let me enjoy this story. After all, Gail's only here for two more issues, and then who knows what will happen. Maybe Gail will add some pointless fluff to the last two issues so that my standards aren't raised too high.

Lest anyone think I am gushing without reason, I do have concerns (Umbra, fairly useless except for dealing with Brainy; Gym'll, pointlessly flying around in front of assassins). But I'm just thrilled to see stories this dense again.

What I wonder: Is the Persuader's daughter really that secret weapon the fatal five referred to way back in the Timberwolf issues? Didn't it have a "genetic lock" or something. Maybe the "lock" refers to the keys as its parents. Or not... but maybe it's enough to keep me going for two weeks.